After a fire broke out at the Matatirtha substation during the testing of an underground power line, electricity in the Kathmandu Valley is being supplied through alternative means.

The power outage occurred after a fire broke out suddenly on Sunday afternoon in the breaker panel used for controlling electricity supply in the 11 kV feeder line under the Matatirtha substation of Nepal Electricity Authority.

Due to the incident, the electricity supply to areas distributed through three feeders was affected for a while. The Managing Director of the Authority, Hiteendra Dev Shakya, informed that electricity supply has been restored in most of the affected areas since Sunday.

Shakya mentioned that the replacement process was initiated by bringing the necessary switchgear from the Budhanilkantha and Chapali substations. He also informed that, for the time being, electricity supply was rerouted from the SyuChatara substation, and power service was restored to most areas.

“Some misinformation has been circulated; electricity supply has already been restored in most areas as of yesterday. Only a few areas around Chandragiri are remaining, where work is being carried out rapidly. Electricity supply will be smoothly restored in a short time,” he said.

The Authority stated that since the fire occurred during the testing of the underground line, the full responsibility lies with the construction contractor. “The fire was caused by a spark during the operation of the breaker panel’s switch. The contractor will replace the damaged equipment,” Managing Director Shakya said.

The incident has also raised questions about the reliability of the underground cable system under construction in the Kathmandu Valley. It has been found that further studies are needed on the stability of the underground pipeline system and the potential risks involved. It appears that, in the future, necessary technical improvements and risk assessment measures must be adopted to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Managing Director Shakya stated that in the coming days, the actual technical fault will be identified, and necessary steps will be taken to ensure that such issues do not recur in the future.

Source: Kantipur